[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 46 (Thursday, March 15, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E317-E318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF CANDIDACY 
                             FOR PRESIDENT

                                  _____
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 15, 2018

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago this Friday, March 16, 
1968, Senator Robert Francis Kennedy announced his candidacy for 
President of the United States and launched the legendary, whirlwind, 
wondrous 82-day campaign that captured the imagination of millions and 
inspired a generation.
  Much has been said about Robert F. Kennedy, affectionately known to 
family and millions of loved ones as ``Bobby.''
  We know of Bobby the brother; we know of Robert the passionate 
Senator and crusading Attorney General; we know him the tireless and 
determined champion of civil rights; and, sadly, we know of Robert 
Francis Kennedy the martyr.
  These different sides of Robert Kennedy came into sharp focus during 
the last 11 and a half weeks of his time on this Earth.
  It has been said that a man is a product of his time.
  I remember the 1960s; it was a time when America was divided and 
riven by social unrest and civil upheaval and facing global dangers 
threatening the post-World War II international order.
  But as I reflect back on that time, it is clear that Bobby Kennedy 
was not just merely a man of his time, but he was a man whose spirit, 
ideals, beliefs, and moral clarity transcend time and place.
  Robert Kennedy stood for equality, dignity, fairness, humanity, 
empathy, and moral clarity.
  Robert Kennedy lived these ideals during a time when they were in 
short supply in our society.
  Robert Kennedy loved America which he knew to be good but could and 
must be made better.
  ``What is right, keep it right; what is wrong, make it right.''
  That pretty much sums up the belief system of Bobby Kennedy.
  I think of Robert Kennedy marching with Cesar Chavez, with whom he 
met almost 50 years ago on this day, as Cesar Chavez was ending his 
consequential hunger strike in support of migrant farm workers.
  When Robert Kennedy announced his candidacy for president--from the 
same spot in the Senate Caucus Room as had his brother 8 years before--
he remarked that he was running ``not to oppose any man, but to propose 
new policies.''
  Robert Kennedy also provided a roadmap for those of us in public 
service when he said: ``I don't think we have to shoot each other, to 
beat each other; I think that we can do better in this country.''
  But, for me, Robert Kennedy's lasting legacy are his contributions 
advancing equality of opportunity, civil rights, and human dignity for 
all Americans.
  Robert Kennedy's presidential platform emphasized racial equality, 
economic and social justice, and civic engagement and tolerance.
  Robert Kennedy's appeal was universal, and knew no racial bounds 
because his vision for America included everyone; whites and blacks and 
browns, rural and urban dwellers, the poor and working and middle-
class.
  Robert Kennedy's message--of decency, respect, compassion, and 
humility--appealed to the good in Americans and was in turn embraced by 
people of goodwill in every region of the country.
  Next month, when we mark the 50th anniversary of a terrible day in 
Memphis when the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was slain, let us 
remember the words of Robert Kennedy as he broke the news of Dr. King's 
death to an assembled crowd in an African American neighborhood in 
Indianapolis:
  ``What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in 
the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is 
not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion 
toward one another; and a feeling of justice toward those who still 
suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be 
black.''
  Two months later, on June 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy would himself be 
felled by an assassin's bullet at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, 
after winning the California Democratic Primary.
  In the days immediately following his assassination, the full measure 
of the country's loss became apparent.
  Over two million people assembled along the train tracks as his 
funeral cortege made its way from the funeral mass at New York City's 
St. Patrick's Cathedral to Union Station in Washington, D.C. for his 
interment at Arlington National Cemetery.
  When the cortege reached Philadelphia, ``estimates of 20,000 people, 
mostly African-American . . . began to sing `The Battle Hymn of the 
Republic' with such force that inside, passengers began to weep.''
  When America lost Bobby Kennedy, it lost a big heart and a guiding 
hand and a generation of Americans lost its innocence.
  The words used to eulogize Robert Kennedy by his brother, the late 
Senator Edward Kennedy, are as applicable today as they were in the 
hectic days of his legendary campaign for President:
  ``My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what 
he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who 
saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, 
saw war and tried to stop it.''
  The life of Robert Francis ``Bobby'' Kennedy teaches us at least 
three important lessons when it comes to the question of justice: Words 
have power, actions matter, moral courage is indispensable.
  Many persons have one of these qualities but much rarer are those who 
possess two, let alone all three in the abundance and to the degree 
possessed by Robert Kennedy.
  Is it any wonder then that we still revere Bobby Kennedy after all 
these years and still miss him so much?
  The 1968 folk classic, ``Abraham, Martin, and John,'' by Dion and the 
Belmonts still sums up the feelings of countless millions, here in 
America and around the world:

     Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
     Can you tell me where he's gone?
     I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill
     With Abraham, Martin and John.

     Has anybody here seen my old friends?
     Can you tell me where they've gone?
     They freed a lot of people,
     But, it seems the good they die young.
     You know, I just looked around and they were gone.

  The mortal presence of Robert Kennedy may be gone but his immortal 
spirit lives on and we will always remember those joyous, vibrant, and 
wondrous 82 days that were his legendary 1968 presidential campaign.
  I ask the House to observe a moment of silence in memory of the late 
Robert Francis Kennedy, the former U.S. Senator from New York and 
Attorney General of the United States.

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